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Tuesday, 10 November 2015

Spot Treatment/Prevention Masterpost - Sophie

Combating Spots!

I, as most of you out there, unfortunately do not have
perfect air brushed skin. Sadly I do suffer from spots, blackheads, whiteheads,
closed comedones, demons from hell, however you like to name them they are a
fact of life. So in this blog I’d like to go through the different tips and
products that are out there to help!

*Disclaimer I am not a dermatologist so cannot help with
your specific issues. All of the below are from my own experiences and reading.

All my favourite spot warriors!

Lifestyle Tips

First there are some pretty basic things you can do first
without even opening your wallet!

Hydration! This came up in my travel tips blog
(here), but I really can’t emphasise enough how much hydration matters for the
skin. It’s easy to remember to moisturise but oh so easy to forget to hydrate
from inside out.

Sleep. When you’re lacking sleep the skin is the
first place which suffers. Everyone knows about the dreaded eye bags in the
morning, but it can also add to your acne woes. That nicely leads us to….

Clean everything! Remember whatever touches your
face is going to influence it. I wash my brushes weekly using Johnson’s baby
shampoo, a cheap alternative to brush cleansers out there. I also try and wash
my sheets every two weeks, but in the mean time I flip my cushions over so I’m
never using the same side continuously. Another good trick is to put a clean
t-shirt over your pillow case! I have a separate towel for my face as well,
which is washed weekly.

There are plenty more tips out there, but those are three
easy steps you can do now to make an impact, and all with minimal effort.

Now onto the more fun part, products!

Products for All The Stages

Just like people acne comes in all different shapes and
forms. You have your blackheads (open comedones), white heads (closed comedones), your blemishes and the all terrible cystic acne.

I’m going to take you through the different stages and what
I use to combat them!

Preventation Stage

Exfoliation

Exfoliation is important because it removes the dead skin
cells from your face, preventing them from blocking pores and turning into blemishes
and acne. It also helps lead to the elusive healthy glowing skin.

There are two main types of exfoliation, chemical and
physical. What is very important to keep in mind is that it is possible to over
exfoliate leading to tight too shiny skin. So whenever you introduce a chemical
or physical exfoliator into your routine do it gradually.

Physical Exfoliation

This type is usually used once or twice a week, to prevent
the dreaded over exfoliation mentioned above. This type of exfoliation is
rather intuitive, it uses a rough material such as grains, sugar or microbeads
(which I wouldn’t recommend due to their damage to the environment) to rub away
the dead layer of the skin.

My personal favourite physical exfoliator is the Black Sugar
Mask Wash Off from Skinfood. I love the smell of this and the way it makes my
skin feel new and glowy.

Use

I keep the mask on for 10 minutes and then wash off,
gently rubbing my face in circles as I do so. If you find it too harsh a top tip
is to wet your face first, it becomes less harsh the more wet your face is when
you apply the product, so you can customise to suit.

I have the strawberry version of this on my wishlist as well. You can purchase
it here for $5.60 : Rose Rose
Roserose also do samples of the strawberry version: Strawberry Samples

Chemical Exfoliators

These work by breaking bonds and dissolving/dislodging the
dead skin cells. There are two main types. AHA and BHA

Salicylic Acid (AKA
the BHA): Full name Beta Hydroxy Acid, is a lipid (oil) soluble chemical. These
are more effective with blackheads as it can penetrate through the oil that
causes them to appear. BHA’s are also anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial, so
if you have sensitive/red skin these will also help with that.
This is an excellent exfoliator which
works to break down skin cells and physically declogs pores by breaking down filaments/blackheads/whiteheads
from the inside keeping the pore clean! Don’t be tempted to over-exfoliate
though, these acids are strong and it can take a while for your skin to get
used to it. I only use my BHA treatment twice a week, three times if I’m under
a lot of pressure at work as more stress for me leads to more spots.
These are great for people with oily skin, or those prone to break outs.

Use

The product I use is COSRX Blackhead Power Liquid. I pump it
twice onto a cotton pad and then sweep across my face.

Alpha Hydroxy Acid
(AKA the AHA): This is a water soluble chemical. It works differently to
BHA’s in that they target the skin’s uppermost layers, compared to BHA’s which
break down through the skins oil. While BHA’s target blackheads, the AHA is
good for targeting white heads and hyperpigmentation/skin discoloration. AHAs
can be more irritable than BHAs so that is something to keep in mind if you
have sensitive skin.

Use
I use this twice a week, and put it on 20 minutes after the BHA so that I can
get the full effect. AHAs and BHAs both work better at a lower pH to exfoliate,
which is why I wait. You can also get pH adjusting toners to shorten the wait
time, but sadly I don’t currently have one in my collection.

The product I use is Mizon 8%, which has a dropper
application that I apply directly to my face.
You can purchase it here for $10.95:

With the best will in the world, and all the preventative
measures scrupulously followed the dreaded can still occur and a pimple appear.
The following is how I address the horror and maintain my sanity by re-assuring
myself it’s not the end of the world.

Whiteheads

So a whitehead has made its unwelcome appearance on your
face, and it must be dealt with. There are two stages for me in this process,
in addition to my normal AHA inclusive skincare routine.

Stage 1: Dry it out and bring to a head.
Sometimes you can feel a white head on your face, it’s painful to touch and you
can see it’s going to be one of those monstrous 1-2 weekers. The first thing I
do is bring it to a head quicker using a pink spot treatment. These are nothing
new, and you can find Western and AB brands all over the net. But below is a
review of my favourite.

Mizon Acence Blemish
Out Pink Spot

This has a two layer structure, first is the yellow fluid layer which is
made up of AHA, BHA, Triclosan, Sulfur and Coptis Japonica Makino. Triclosan is
a preservative which is antibacterial and anti-fungal! Mizon highlights this as
one of their star ingredients, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s
multi-functional in keeping your product fresh as well as getting rid of the
bacteria on your skin. Coptis Japonica Makino is also an anti-bacterial
ingredient, well known in herbal medicine to be used as an anti-inflammatory
and antibiotic. Random skincare fact! Coptis used to be commercially marketed
as an effective thrush infection treatment! (Would not advise you do this now
:P).
The pink layer is calamine lotion. Anyone who has ever suffered from chicken
pox or had an entanglement with poison ivy is probably familiar with this. It
has a soothing effect on the skin and helps reduce the redness.

Use

This is the last thing I put on before I go to bed. Using a
cotton swab I dip straight down into the bottle slowly, to prevent the solution
from mixing, and press firmly into the pink powder. Carefully drawing it back
up, so as to prevent it from hitting the sides I then apply to the spot
offender.
There’s plenty of product usually on the swab, so I can get three – four inflamed
bumps on my face at once. If you have more or don’t find it’s enough use a
different swab for the second dipping to prevent contamination

Review

This is a HG product for me. I can’t recommend it enough to
those who suffer from inflamed bumps on their face for weeks. If the products
mix you just leave it on a flat surface for them to separate back out. There’s
also plenty of product in the bottle which is always a plus.

Once I’ve got a whitehead to appear, or I have an open
blemish I slap on an hydrocolloid bandage. I cannot emphasise how much I love
these patches, and how they’ve changed my skincare life. The technology for
these babies originally came from medical care wounds. They were used to gently
encourage wounds to heal, while protecting them from bacteria and other
nasties.

COSRX Acne Pimple
Master Patch

I love them. Whenever I make a skincare purchase I always
add a sheet of these to my basket. These are tightly packaged. Once you open
the foiled re-sealable pack you come across the double sealed patches themselves.
There are 9 big (12mm) patches, 5 medium (10mm) and 10 small (7mm) for a total
of 24 patches in every bag.

Use

This is the last thing that goes on at the end of my night
routine. I clean the moisturiser/sleeping pack off the affected area with a
cotton swab and stick one of these over the entire blemish. These patches are
adhesive enough that they stay on my face the entire night, and in the morning
I take it off before my morning routine. You’ll find after usage that the patch
is cloudy and slightly bumpy, this will be the gook that it’s drained from the
blemish.

Just to reiterate, in case you didn’t know already, I love
these patches. They do what they’re meant to do, drain and flatten as well as
protect from the outside environment. The only issue is that you can only use
this for targeted treatment, and it can get expensive if you have a big flare
up at once.

Blemishes/Redness

Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil is a well known remedy for redness and blemishes
on the skin. It’s an anti-inflammatory, which is good for helping with reducing
the redness/swollenness of the blemish. Its also antibacterial so helps kill
off the germs/bacteria on the skin and cleans pores.
I use the tea tree oil that The Body Shop sells. But the LJH Tea Tree Essence
is a popular AB choice.

Use

I add a couple of drops of the oil to my night time
moisturiser, as if I use it straight on my skin it can irritate my face. If I’ve
got a particularly stubborn blemish/spot I will apply directly using a cotton
bud, but be warned this does sting.

Mizon Acence Mark X
Blemish After Cream

This is for use on open or healing spots. I wouldn’t
recommend applying this on a growing spot and expecting miracles. It does
however reduce redness and helps the skin heal a lot quicker than if you just
left it. The main ingredients in this cream which help troubled skin are
propolis, niacinamide and liquorice. Liquorice has been used since the Ancient
Greeks to help troubled skin, its an anti-inflammatory and has been shown to
reduce swelling, redness and irritation. Niacinamide is a brightening product
which can help even out skin tone and propolis is a fan favourite for its antiviral
and antimicrobial properties. The cream contains 12.5% propolis extract!

Use

As with the other spot treatments I put this on last in my
routine. I put a healthy dollop on the affected area and go to sleep. One thing
to note is that it does have a medicinal scent, though this quickly fades.

Review

This is a great product to use in the last healing stages of
a spot breakout as it speeds things along and helps your skin go back to its
usual even glow. Again to note this is for the healing stage, you apply to open
or already popped acne. If you apply to a whitehead which has yet to be
drained/popped it won’t be even half as effective.

One of my face pet peeves is the sebaceous filaments on my
nose, which some of you may call blackheads due to terrible advertising
practises. What follows is an everyday person’s explanation of what they are
and how to treat them!
Quick note on the differences:

Blackheads: Open comedones which are
dark almost black in colour due to oxidation. When extracted they appear as a
solid yellow plug, a mix of all the sebum, bacteria and skin debris that’s been
pooled in there. *yuck*

Sebaceous Filaments: These
are natural formations on your skin which channel sebum/oil from your pores
onto the skin to moisturise. When pressure is applied white gunk comes out.
There are differences in how pronounced they look, people with oily skin (like
myself) have more obvious sebaceous filaments. But trust me everyone out there
has them, there’s no such thing as pore free skin!

But just because I know they’re natural doesn’t mean I like
them and there are a few things you can do to minimize their appearance.

Do not use pore
strips!! These are admittedly fun to use, I am guilty of slapping one
of these on and then being fascinated by all the gross stuff that’s come out.
But these can be damaging to the skin, leaving behind open pores which are
vulnerable to infection and removing essential natural oils from the skin
causing redness and drying. Also while these are great at removing blackhead
clusters, sebaceous filaments are not something which can be removed! So you’re
only going to be disappointed by the lack of gunk on the strip, while causing
mild irritation and worse case scenario, broken capillaries.

Clay Masks

These are my go to when I want to tighten my skin. Clay has
great oil absorbing properties which helps to keep pores free of excess oil and
minimises the appearance of the sebaceous filaments.
My favourite go to clay mask is Innisfree Jeju Volcanic Pore Clay Mask.

Use

I apply this after cleansing and wait for 15 minutes/scare
my friends on snapchat. It is easy to apply and you don’t require much product
to cover your entire face. For a clay mask this isn’t too drying, which can be
the worry people with dry skin can have. It can be difficult to completely wash
off just using water, so I use an oil cleanser/balm to help in the process.

Face OilsThere’s nothing so counter intuitive as saying add more oil if your face is
oily, but its true. One of the reasons your face might be over-producing oil is
because it doesn’t think it has enough, Fixing this is easy, add an oil
cleanser to your routine! Not only does it help to remove the build up of dirt
and make up from the day it is known to help with the appearance of sebaceous
filaments. An added benefit is that oil is highly emollient, which makes the
skin feel oh so soft. Some of the popular natural mineral oils out there for
this are jojoba, argan and black cumin seed oil.

Deep Cleansing
Method

So I’d known about the clay mask method, and the BHA
treatment but it never occurred to me to combine these together until I read
Fiddy Snails awesome blog post (click here to read original)

I was intrigued, and one evening when I had about an hour
spare to try it, I got to work!

The three products I used were the COSRX Blackhead Power Liquid, Innisfree Jeju Volcanic Pore Clay Mask and DHC Cleansing Oil

First went on the BHA, then I watched an episode of friends
to while away the 20 minutes.

Next I applied the Jeju Volcanic clay mask and waited another 20 minutes. I
then washed this off using tepid water as advised by Fiddy.

Finally it was the cleansing oil stage and another 20 minute wait. Before I
could massage my face and get the satisfying grit cleaning feeling.

Then a
final emulsify and rinse of my face before I carry on to the essence stage of
my routine.

You can see that the whole process took an hour, which is why I only really do
this once a fortnight. But it does work! My pores did look smaller than they
usually do and my skin felt really clean.

An extra stage I do is apply a sheet mask that night. This is because I really
want to pamper my skin after applying that much pressure to it in the massaging
stage. I really recommend to those with dry skin that they do this extra stage.

End

Phew hope you made it through this epic post! If you have
any tips of your own or comments do leave them in the section below J

4 comments:

I love using the Black Sugar Wash off! It's super gentle on my skin while still being effective. However I do want to try the COSRX Blackhead Power Liquid, it sounds like it works well. I also have redness, so thanks for recommending tea tree oil! Thanks for sharing - this is such a lovely, informative post! :)

Thank you for your kind comment :) I'm glad that you enjoyed reading it. BHA's are really great for blackheads and overall reducing redness, it's been a lifesaver for me, so I hope it works for you as well!